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Crackdowns on Comic Conventions Highlight China’s Suppression of Japanese and Western Cultural Influence

Several comic conventions and video game events in China have recently been canceled, including the Qingdao Comic Con, the Zibo comic show, the Qingdao AS New Year’s Party, and miYoSummer 3. The cancellations appear to be due to government restrictions and censorship targeting Japanese and Western cultural influences.

The Qingdao Comic Con scheduled for mid-February was canceled just weeks before the convention’s scheduled start. The cancellation followed online backlash in China criticizing the event for promoting Japanese culture and anime. The organizer cited “safeguarding visitor safety” as the reason for cancellation. The Qingdao AS New Year’s Party, scheduled for early February, faced similar pressure after recent public fomentation over comic shows, leading authorities and organizers to indefinitely postpone the event. Staff from the Zibo comic show said authorities ordered a stop to Shandong province’s animation exhibitions during the Chinese Spring Festival. HoYoverse, scheduled for summer 2024, also abruptly canceled its popular miYoSummer video game show in January.

Interviewees attribute the cancellations to government crackdowns reinforcing nationalistic boycotts of Japanese culture in particular. Some pointed out an incident in 2022 involving a Nanjing temple honoring Japanese war criminals which sparked widespread anti-Japanese sentiment and comic show cancellations last summer. Rigid over-enforcement is also exacerbated by the CCP’s culture encouraging government orders cascading down to the grassroots level.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 24, 2024
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/gt2-01242024052706.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Lianhe Zaobao: China’s Weibo Blocked “Taiwanese Election” Search Results on Election Day

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections took place on January 13, and Mainland Chinese netizens were paying close attention to the election results. After voting began at 8 a.m. that day, the relevant term “Taiwan Election” was on the “hot search ranking list” on Weibo, one of the largest social media platforms in Mainland China. The number of views on the topic quickly reached 163.2 million. However, the popular topic was soon blocked on Weibo.

Before the “Taiwan Elections” topic was blocked, many Mainland Chinese netizens posted comments and discussion on this topic. Some netizens called for improving relations between Mainland China and Taiwan after the Taiwanese election, and some netizens expressed their hopes for the DPP’s presidential candidate Lai Ching-te to win the election so that the Chinese military would “unify by force” sooner. (Taiwan’s DDP party, which won the presidency in the election, is the party that’s most opposed to cooperation with Beijing.)

Since Chinese official media, including Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News and People’s Daily, had very little coverage of the Taiwan election that day, some netizens asked on Weibo: “Is today the voting day for Taiwan? Why is there no news coverage?” Many related topics were blocked on Weibo as well. The Spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press conference two days earlier that “the United States must not interfere in Taiwan’s elections in any form” – this quote remained visible on Weibo.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, January 13, 2024
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20240113-1461930

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Social Stability

CCP Pilots Ethnic Interpenetration Policy in Xinjiang

The Xinjiang Daily reported on December 14, 2023 that the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang has enacted “Regulations on Promoting Interaction, Communication, and Integration among Various Ethnic Groups.” Consisting of 19 articles, the legislation aims to commingle diverse ethnic groups together. This would serve as a pilot implementation of the “ethnic interpenetration” policy endorsed by the Chinese Communist Party in 2014.

Critics pointed out that forcing various ethnic groups to live and mix together plays to the CCP’s policy of eliminating minority ethnic cultures and implementing more complete control populations living in China. For example, when members of the Han ethnic group (the majority population in China) are imported to Xinjiang and mixed with the Uighur ethnic group, the Han people’s acceptance of CCP culture will naturally manifest itself in daily life and thereby reduce the religious and cultural cohesion of the Uighur people.

Per the CCP’s ideology, forcible mixing of different ethnicities and cultures is used to foment conflicts between those cultural and ethnic groups. This aids the CCP in “inciting struggle among the people,” e.g. provoking conflicts between the Han and Uighur ethnicities. The resulting instability and incohesion makes it easier for the CCP to implement control.

Such ethnic interpenetration policies also enable the CCP to more conveniently organize intelligence operations and strengthen surveillance over minority ethnic groups.

Source: Radio Free Asia, December 22, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/zhuanlan/yehuazhongnanhai/gx-12222023161033.html

Briefings | | |   @CS Government/Politics Social Stability

China’s Marriage Rate Among Young Persons Remains Low

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDAQ: SINA) recently reported that, according to the newly published “China Population and Employment Statistics Yearbook 2023” compiled by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, late marriage has become a common phenomenon in China. By the end of year 2022, the rates of unmarried persons among various age groups are:

  • Around 51.3 percent are unmarried in the 25-29 age group,
  • 18.4 percent unmarried the 30-34 age group, and
  • 8 percent unmarried in the 35-39 age group.

The unmarried rate among 29-year-olds is 34 percent. In other words, about one in three 29-year-olds is unmarried.

Judging from the age structure of the married population in China since 2010, the age of marriage (and especially the age of first marriage) is now significantly older. China’s average first marriage age in 2020 is 28.67 years old, an increase of 3.78 years from the average first marriage age in 2010 (24.89 years old).

Competitive pressure for employment and longer years of education have resulted in delayed marriage and childbirth. In big cities, young people have a relatively high degree of independence in social life, which has also greatly affected the rate of marriage and age of marriage.

Source: Sina, December 28, 2023
https://news.sina.cn/gn/2023-12-28/detail-imzzqrrs7044951.d.html?vt=4&pos=108&his=0

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

LTN: Air Pollution Has Worsened in China

Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) ran an article saying that China’s air pollution has worsened this year. The article cited a recent report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent research organization based in Finland.

This is the first time since China began to combat air pollution in 2013 that China’s national average concentration of PM2.5 is higher than the previous year. Including Beijing, around 80 percent of China’s provincial capital cities have detected this year an increase in PM2.5 concentrations compared with last year. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “PM2.5 describes fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.”

Fossil fuel energy use in China has increased in the last year. Moreover, increased anthropogenic emissions have been a major factor pushing up pollution levels in China. In areas where PM2.5 levels do not meet World Health Organization safety standards, coal production and thermal power generation increased by 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

In a separate study published earlier this month, an international coalition of climate scientists noted that China’s coal, oil and natural gas emissions increased as the Covid-19 pandemic slowed. Although China stepped up its pollution control efforts in 2015 after bidding to host the Winter Olympics, the country’s air quality is still below World Health Organization standards.

Source:

LTN, December 24, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4529554

EPA, November 1, 2023
https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/particulate-matter-pm25-trends

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China: Negative Commentary on Economy is a National Security Risk

China’s Ministry of State Security recently published an article saying that economic security is the foundation of national security. It said that economic threats must be dealt with to promote China’s economic recovery and “high-quality development [of the economy]. The article accused foreign critics of fabricating false narratives about China’s economy to undermine market confidence and impede growth. It vowed to crack down on illegal activities that jeopardize economic security.

Meanwhile, social media platforms like Weibo are instructing bloggers to avoid pessimistic comments about China’s economy or face severe punishment. Some users were notified that downplaying the economy has become a “red line” that risks heavy penalties if crossed. This reflects the CCP’s heightened sensitivity to dissent and its effort to control public discourse about economic issues.

The article tied economic security to the national security concepts emphasized by Xi Jinping. It blamed foreign actors for creating “discourse traps,” manufacturing false narratives about China’s economic decline. The article did not address concerns about how China’s own policies have contributed to the trend of economic decoupling between China and global economy.

By framing economic commentary as a national security issue rather than just economic analysis, the CCP is severely restricting speech within China. Self-censorship by firms like the China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and social media platforms show the chilling effect of this new policy. Some Chinese netizens have noted that, ironically, the act of banning negative comments about the economy may itself be damaging to perceptions about the Chinese economy and business environment.

Source: Voice of America, December 15, 2023
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-s-ministry-of-state-security-says-badmouthing-china-s-economy-endangers-national-security-20231215/7399543.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Chinese Netizens Tacitly Mock CCP Line on Philippines Conflict

A recent online video showed that tens of thousands of Chinese netizens collectively mocking China National Radio – a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece.

On December 10th, China National Radio reported on a conflict between China’s Coast Guard vessels and Philippine ships in the South China Sea, putting full blame for the conflict on the Filipinos. Among the 50,000 comments in the comment section, the majority were not the patriotic responses that the CCP would have expected. Instead, they were comments on an irrelevant topic – the weather. People from all over China, from south to north, participated in these discussions, and the comments seemed quite amusing.

The responses were just weather at difference regions, such as “Guangzhou is hot again, when will it snow?” “When can I wear the new down jacket I bought this year, it’s so hot in Guangxi.” “Shenzhen is wearing short sleeves today, it’s so hot,” etc.

A netizen summed it up, saying, “The comments section is full of amazing people!”

Source: Aboluo, December 11, 2023
https://www.aboluowang.com/2023/1211/1989157.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CNA: China Issues Official Policy on Wearing Masks as Respiratory Illnesses Surge

According to primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA), the current surge of respiratory disease in China now is severe. Multiple diseases are prevalent at the same time in the current epidemic. According to China’s National Administration of Disease Control and Prevention, common respiratory infectious diseases circulating in China now include COVID-19, the influenza virus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, respiratory syncytial virus, etc. These are mainly spread through respiratory droplets, inhalation of aerosols containing pathogens, or close contact [with contagious persons].

A new policy and guidelines issued by the National Administration of Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a mask when taking public transportation or entering a crowded place. Furthermore, the policy requires people to wear masks when going to medical institutions or places where vulnerable groups gather. The policy also requires public service personnel such as medical, catering, cleaning, and security personnel to wear masks during work. People should also wear a mask when entering supermarkets, theaters, passenger terminals, elevators, and other closed and crowded places.

According to the guidelines, patients with respiratory infectious diseases or those with symptoms of respiratory infectious diseases should wear particle protective masks such as N95 or KN95 (without a breathing valve) or medical protective masks; other personnel should wear disposable medical masks or medical surgical masks.

Source: CNA, December 9, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202312090218.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability